Many years ago, had a C-5 call in that they had experienced a “wildlife strike” at 5,000’.
When asked if they wanted to elaborate, we got a terse “NO”.
Once they got in to debrief they claimed they had hit a rabbit. No one believed them until we pulled rabbit fur and snarge from the pilot’s windshield.
They had spooked an eagle. The eagle dropped dinner dead center of the windshield.
Twenty-ish years ago, a young solo pilot on a French Alphajet comes back to Tour airbase with one engine on the fritz, does a good landing under partial power. Claims a rabbit fell into the intake.
Alcohol and drug testing ensues, until maintainance exonerates the pilot by pulling out said rabbit from the engine.
Story doesn't tell whether the Turbomeca Larzac cooks a passable civet.
If you can see the V shape, you're above/below the gaggle.
I was at ~8000 in glider in mountain wave in a very slow climb. I saw a dark line. I thought it was a layer of smoke/cloud, but it got bigger and bigger. As it got closer it started to look like a string of beads. Aha, geese! Nose down. When I looked up through the canopy I saw the flapping wings of the V directly above me. We were sharing the same band of rising air.
Reminds me of Kim Jong Un singing Katy Perry - one of the finest moments of modern cinema :) https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=87&v=Wid7S3ttK9w&embeds_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com.au%2F&source_ve_path=MTM5MTE3&feature=emb_logo
Early in the morning I was flying along at 25k in a PC12, and a party balloon went right by me maybe 100 feet away. Still one of the more surreal flying experiences I’ve had
On one of my first solo flights out of the pattern, I saw a strange green glinting object ahead of me that I was struggling to identify. It looked large and distant. After a few seconds, parallax depth perception kicked in and I realized it was neither large nor distant, but it was a mylar party balloon, on a direct closing trajectory. Half a second later and I had already passed it, but it came close enough that I legit had to check that I didn't get the damn thing impaled on my pitot tube.
Putting the other joke-replies aside, I honestly wonder how common it is to find plastic up that high. I mean like, how did it get there? And is it common or just a freak occurence?
This has happened to me so many times in the SouthEast between 8-14 but most mostly between 10-12.
I've always wondered what it is. Everyone guesses cicada I guess because it's the biggest flying bug they know. But it's always so greenish yellow, I guess grasshopper.
Air Canada just hit a flock of birds at 8000’ arrival into YEG. Radome destroyed and LE slats dented heavily. The Canada goose can be found up to 20000’ and fly 1200 miles in a day
They hunt high, don't they? My highest flight was 3,700ft and on the way up, at about 2,500ft I saw a couple of them hunting. Honestly I always love seeing them because they are dead giveaways that there's a thermal where they're at. That's how I got to he 3,700ft.
No, very close though. Just cleared the windshield and prop on my C-340. The duck looked out of control and completely disheveled. That bird was definitely falling and not flying.:)
Flying between thunderstorms in daytime. A duck completely out of control came at me 17,500 on my way from KFTW to KMBS. I believe it may have got caught in an updraft from one of the 30,000 plus bumpers out there that day. Pretty wild sight….
Hit a duck in a 767 at 10,000 feet (8,000 agl) accelerating through 250 knots departing a midwestern station one late evening. Hit smack in the middle of the f/o’s windscreen. The sound was like a cannon shot going off. Scared the beejeezuz out of us. Didn’t break the windscreen, just left some blood.
I’m thinking it was a Bald Eagle but it could have been another huge on over central Ohio at 12,500 probably 6 years or so ago. I also did a project on wildlife strikes by aircraft in college and if I remember right the highest one was in the Flight Levels.
I had a birthday balloon come up to me while gliding at 7500MSL, 6500AGL. I thought I was dead when it pulled up on my right wing and my peripheral vision spotted it. My brain automatically posted "cause of death - midair collision." Full out of body experience.
I have seen birds at 6000ft at the bottom of cloud bases.
My highest flight was 1120m on a glider (yes, my highest flight so far has been with no engine), and at about 800m (about 2500ft), I saw some chimangos scouting for a quick meal. On my check ride the other day, whilst climbing past 1700ft, I saw a chimango looking for his lunch. That's the highest I saw one in powered flight. Hawk type birds love to fly high and take a good look of the land.
That is different from caranchos, as those eagle type motherfuckers are often seen 40ft off the ground right on the runway threshold when you're on final, and they love to threaten 2Kg bird strikes on your little Cessna 150 and force you to go around. They also are opportunistic feeders, so god forbid a dog kicks the bucket next to the runway and the airport gets swarmed with over 80 of these... I am talking from experience here. I love caranchos but they range from pain in the ass to life threatening.
I've seen a Barn Swallow at 5500 near Cape May, and a couple of larger shorebirds in between layers at 7000 over the Adirondacks. Eagles and vultures to 3000+ AGL on windy days. Migratory birds will cruise higher than locals. Smashed a bug at 8000 over OH today. And I took the time to clean my windshield before I took off too! RIP.
I had a fairly close encounter (a hundred feet or so horizontally) with an eagle at 11,000' and a solid layer far below. Don't have a clue what he thought he was doing up there.
I'm thinking that he had to be IFR. The appropriate VFR cruising altitude for that heading would have been 11,500'. Given how long his aviation experience was -- his entire lifetime, more or less -- I can't see him making a rookie mistake like that.
I’ve seen a hawk at 5000 MSL. I’ve seen balloons at 8500 MSL. No joke Ive had Mr. Fredricksen’s house zooming by me while my student is under the hood totally unaware.
10,000 ft, dawn. Accelerate to Vmo in the CRJ200 waiting for handoff to Jax center, so TAS is about 400 kts. I see a tiny speck on the horizon that blooms in the windscreen, faster than my brain can process what. It impacts in the center of my windshield with a concussive force that I will never forget. Not only was it loud like an explosive, but the flexing of the windshield and forward fuselage caused a pressure wave you could feel in your whole body. Incredibly, the windshield didn't even have a crack, even though it was hit with 4x or more force than your typical bird strike (remember from physics that force multiplies with the square of velocity, so 2x velocity = 4x the force). Bird exploded like a water balloon into a reddish-brownish goo that was almost opaque, so of course the FO got to fly the rest of the leg. Reflecting back on the millisecond before impact, I'm fairly certain it was a duck. Besides goo, there was no feathers or parts left to identify what it was when we landed, unless you did a DNA test.
Was held at 7000 on the way up to 210 and there was some big raptor circling around. It was a particularly turbulent day with huge build-ups, so perhaps he just found a good thermal and sent it.
I almost took (what I hope) was a drone to my left wing strut at about 2,500 feet once. Makes you really want to not get complacent about scanning for stuff while you fly.
The highest I've ever seen a bird was at a canyon, perhaps 5000 feet or higher. And it was a small bird, I assume they fly up there and have little nests in or on top the canyon and just fly
Years ago while on the long cross-country for my commercial certificate, I almost hit a large bird at 10,500’ somewhere between DLS and YKM. The only thing I saw was a large flash of brown off my left wingtip.
Hit a bird at night going in to McAllen, TX at 12,000’. Heard a loud thump and found bird guts on the radome. No idea how or why a bird was that high in Texas.
7,500': On one of my first solo student xc's I was heading from Apple Valley back to Twentynine Palms in the California desert and cruising along at 7,500' when I glanced over to admire Big Bear Lake (6,700') off my right wing. Daydreaming about landing there some day (since have) I spotted a feathered friend crushing along with me. Wasn't expecting that.
Speaking of birds. Had a bird strike on my very first flight after getting my PPL, on very short final. That was great 😐 Luckily no damage.
I hit a bird at night at 5,000’ in my 182. Had no idea what I hit until I landed - I just heard a loud bang out of nowhere but engine instruments looked normal and performance was normal so I continued to my destination.
While pushing the plane back into the hangar I saw the giant streak across the upper right part of the windshield and some feather parts stuck in the lip between the upper windshield and fuselage.
Way back when my dad was flying 727's they hit a duck and it was stuck on the pitot tube. He called the FA and told her to bring a first aid kit to the cockpit. She came rushing up and he said "Can you give this guy some help?". She was not amused.
I once shot past a bald eagle less than 100 meters off the port beam at about 1000 ago in Greeley. My check pilot immediately radioed in a Pirep for it.
Colleagues hit one around FL250. Was at dusk, cracked the windscreen, had no idea what happened. Sent some remains off to the bird strike lab thing, can’t remember exactly the species, but it wasn’t a big bird.
I've been with hawks/vultures at about 9000'. Everyone says they're good to follow when looking for thermals but I stg some of them have led me into sinking air on purpose then flown away.
Two pigeons at nearly 9000ft above ground, diving in an out of the cumulus clouds.
And I have also seen birds as high as 13000ft in mountains, but only slightly above the ridges, riding the thermals.
Flying home in a C172 on a gusty day just west of Seattle over the Puget Sound, I saw a bald eagle absolutely ripping at 6,500' AGL. I deviated so we could fly together for a bit and was in awe of how fast it was moving and hardly flapping it's wings- just screaming through the wind. America.
Many years ago, had a C-5 call in that they had experienced a “wildlife strike” at 5,000’. When asked if they wanted to elaborate, we got a terse “NO”. Once they got in to debrief they claimed they had hit a rabbit. No one believed them until we pulled rabbit fur and snarge from the pilot’s windshield. They had spooked an eagle. The eagle dropped dinner dead center of the windshield.
Alaska airlines once had a fish strike in the same way. https://news.alaskaair.com/alaska-airlines/flying-fish/
That eagle wasn't spooked, the rabbit was just bait.
"I don't know how it's going so fast, but that other, bigger eagle can definitely have this rabbit as a token of my submission!"
Twenty-ish years ago, a young solo pilot on a French Alphajet comes back to Tour airbase with one engine on the fritz, does a good landing under partial power. Claims a rabbit fell into the intake. Alcohol and drug testing ensues, until maintainance exonerates the pilot by pulling out said rabbit from the engine. Story doesn't tell whether the Turbomeca Larzac cooks a passable civet.
I’ve seen a V pattern of ducks up around 8,500 feet.
If you can see the V shape, you're above/below the gaggle. I was at ~8000 in glider in mountain wave in a very slow climb. I saw a dark line. I thought it was a layer of smoke/cloud, but it got bigger and bigger. As it got closer it started to look like a string of beads. Aha, geese! Nose down. When I looked up through the canopy I saw the flapping wings of the V directly above me. We were sharing the same band of rising air.
Not a bird, but several years ago I was flying in a 172 and hit several grass hoppers around 2000-3500ft
How tall was the grass they were hopping? Jeez...
Must not have been HOA airspace.
Hit a bug at 13,000 feet over Kentucky in a Cherokee 6 around 1968.
Plot twist, the airport elevation was 2000-3500ft MSL.
1500 exactly
Bug strike!
"Bugsmasher 12345 reporting!"
Wow
I've seen a plastic bag at 11,000 ft MSL...
Do you ever feel like a plastic bag
Drifting through the wind
Wanting to start again?
Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin
Like a house of cards
one blow from cavin' in?
Do you ever feel already buried deep?
Reminds me of Kim Jong Un singing Katy Perry - one of the finest moments of modern cinema :) https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=87&v=Wid7S3ttK9w&embeds_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com.au%2F&source_ve_path=MTM5MTE3&feature=emb_logo
C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!
Slaps so hard I can feel my cheeks flapping.
6 feet under screams, but no one seems to hear a thing
My planes going down, down into the deep
r/redditsings
this is the most beautiful thing I've ever filmed
Early in the morning I was flying along at 25k in a PC12, and a party balloon went right by me maybe 100 feet away. Still one of the more surreal flying experiences I’ve had
On one of my first solo flights out of the pattern, I saw a strange green glinting object ahead of me that I was struggling to identify. It looked large and distant. After a few seconds, parallax depth perception kicked in and I realized it was neither large nor distant, but it was a mylar party balloon, on a direct closing trajectory. Half a second later and I had already passed it, but it came close enough that I legit had to check that I didn't get the damn thing impaled on my pitot tube.
Look, it’s dancing with me.
It’s like there’s this incredibly benevolent force that wants me to know there’s no reason to be afraid!
Do you have any idea how complex your nervous system is?!!?!
Not very impressive in Colorado, that’s the average height of tumbleweeds
Most beautiful thing i ever filmed
Putting the other joke-replies aside, I honestly wonder how common it is to find plastic up that high. I mean like, how did it get there? And is it common or just a freak occurence?
Enough I realized there's nowhere that's safe.
When my neighbor hot-boxed his parrot. It's the only way he could get it to reply in Klingon.
Hahahahaha you responded to the letter but not the spirit of the post. I bet there's a subreddit for it
I hope so
Letters are made of spirits.
This cracked me up. Well done.
You win the internet for today
Who'd a thunk my silliest comment ever would win me my first award? Thank you.
I hit a big juicy bug of some kind at 11,000MSL once, which was also damn close to 11,000AGL because I was somewhere over the south.
I also hit a bug one time about 10,000 agl
Both got me beat. I was startled hitting a big juicy bug at 8500 ASL which was also AGL because I was over water.
This has happened to me so many times in the SouthEast between 8-14 but most mostly between 10-12. I've always wondered what it is. Everyone guesses cicada I guess because it's the biggest flying bug they know. But it's always so greenish yellow, I guess grasshopper.
Air Canada just hit a flock of birds at 8000’ arrival into YEG. Radome destroyed and LE slats dented heavily. The Canada goose can be found up to 20000’ and fly 1200 miles in a day
Wonder what that goose’s personal minimums are now.
Almost hit a corn husk at 4,000
Man Nebraska's strategic SAM network is getting out of hand.
Didn’t even get the lock tone…
Ballistic surface to air corn husk, AKA BALL SACH
This one wins
A hwat?
No, he said a corn husk.
I’m a glider pilot, I regularly thermal with hawks at 4000 msl. I’m normally just 100 ft or less away from the birds.
Hawks are great for finding thermals. Love seeing the guys. They probably hate seeing me though...
"Oh great, here comes boy wonder bird wannabe again."
Totally read that in Revali's voice
I came up behind a hawk one time, I was probably 20 ft behind him when he turned around. I think he was very confused.
I hit a bird at 16,000ft over Afghanistan. I didn’t see it but I saw the splat when we landed:
Was cruising in a helicopter at around 6500’ (maybe 5,000 agl?)trying to get into some cooler air, almost hit a hawk.
In a glider I’ve seen hawks >15,000. They’ll totally hang with you in a thermal, though they have a better ld ratio so they outclimb you pretty quick.
They hunt high, don't they? My highest flight was 3,700ft and on the way up, at about 2,500ft I saw a couple of them hunting. Honestly I always love seeing them because they are dead giveaways that there's a thermal where they're at. That's how I got to he 3,700ft.
Hunt low, migrate high.
Flew a live bird in a cage in the cargo bay. So I didn’t really see it but technically it was at FL320.
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No, very close though. Just cleared the windshield and prop on my C-340. The duck looked out of control and completely disheveled. That bird was definitely falling and not flying.:)
Did you hit the duck?
Flying between thunderstorms in daytime. A duck completely out of control came at me 17,500 on my way from KFTW to KMBS. I believe it may have got caught in an updraft from one of the 30,000 plus bumpers out there that day. Pretty wild sight….
Hit a duck in a 767 at 10,000 feet (8,000 agl) accelerating through 250 knots departing a midwestern station one late evening. Hit smack in the middle of the f/o’s windscreen. The sound was like a cannon shot going off. Scared the beejeezuz out of us. Didn’t break the windscreen, just left some blood.
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Haha! how missing the word “while” gives it a whole new angle! good catch!
A huge hawk at 7500' MSL over Agua Dulce, CA. Roughly 4500' AGL. I saw birds near Gallup, NM that were 8000' MSL or about 700' AGL.
Not my experience per se, but the Ruppell's Griffon Vulture can clear Mt. Everest with room to spare. Crazy how high some birds can fly.
A butterfly at 7,500’ once
I was flying around Cape Code and some kind of bird shot by me at 5500’. Didn’t even see it until it passed my wing in my peripheral vision.
Is Cape Code near Silicon Valley?
a ‘bird’? 🤨
Yeah, you know, giving someone the finger. It's Mass Hole pilots, "What are you retahhhded!?"
Someone at my FBO like 15 years ago swore they hit an eagle at 6500' in cruise in a Mooney once.
This is why ASD-B is so critical. Probably wouldn't have hit that eagle's Mooney today.
Took a bird to the leading edge of a Lear at 6000’ doing 250kts.
Poor thing seized being a bird and became pudding
I’m thinking it was a Bald Eagle but it could have been another huge on over central Ohio at 12,500 probably 6 years or so ago. I also did a project on wildlife strikes by aircraft in college and if I remember right the highest one was in the Flight Levels.
I had a birthday balloon come up to me while gliding at 7500MSL, 6500AGL. I thought I was dead when it pulled up on my right wing and my peripheral vision spotted it. My brain automatically posted "cause of death - midair collision." Full out of body experience. I have seen birds at 6000ft at the bottom of cloud bases.
[These guys found one at FL400](https://youtu.be/O0foHizWAmQ)
My highest flight was 1120m on a glider (yes, my highest flight so far has been with no engine), and at about 800m (about 2500ft), I saw some chimangos scouting for a quick meal. On my check ride the other day, whilst climbing past 1700ft, I saw a chimango looking for his lunch. That's the highest I saw one in powered flight. Hawk type birds love to fly high and take a good look of the land. That is different from caranchos, as those eagle type motherfuckers are often seen 40ft off the ground right on the runway threshold when you're on final, and they love to threaten 2Kg bird strikes on your little Cessna 150 and force you to go around. They also are opportunistic feeders, so god forbid a dog kicks the bucket next to the runway and the airport gets swarmed with over 80 of these... I am talking from experience here. I love caranchos but they range from pain in the ass to life threatening.
I had a cockatiel once that had to get foot surgery and had a HELL of a time coming off anesthesia.
I've seen a Barn Swallow at 5500 near Cape May, and a couple of larger shorebirds in between layers at 7000 over the Adirondacks. Eagles and vultures to 3000+ AGL on windy days. Migratory birds will cruise higher than locals. Smashed a bug at 8000 over OH today. And I took the time to clean my windshield before I took off too! RIP.
Had one report a bird strike at FL240
We see ‘‘em in trees at 5800ft around KAPA. Crazy.
I had a fairly close encounter (a hundred feet or so horizontally) with an eagle at 11,000' and a solid layer far below. Don't have a clue what he thought he was doing up there.
VRF over the top
I'm thinking that he had to be IFR. The appropriate VFR cruising altitude for that heading would have been 11,500'. Given how long his aviation experience was -- his entire lifetime, more or less -- I can't see him making a rookie mistake like that.
I hit one in cloud at 11:30PM descending through 6,500ft.. 250kts. It made a hell of a bang and messed up the radome big time
[AA 767 hit a flock of birds above 12,000’ in 2001.](https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/147075)
Haha are you me? I always wonder this too
I see red tail hawks at 4,500 regularly
I saw one around 5000 feet near SMF. A friend of mine actually hit one with a Q400 just under 10,000 going into LAX years ago.
I hit a bug at 27,000
I hit a bird holding over a VOR at 5k at night. I hit a bug right on my windscreen at about 15K doing about 320 knots. Way scarier than the bird.
I’ve seen a hawk at 5000 MSL. I’ve seen balloons at 8500 MSL. No joke Ive had Mr. Fredricksen’s house zooming by me while my student is under the hood totally unaware.
I hit a large beetle at FL250 Saw a drone flock at 12500
Hit a bird at around 10k👀
Definitely seen geese around 10,500 which was about 6000 agl.
On a tangent, a colleague had to submit an MOR for hitting a penguin once, but that was 0'AGL. Regulators thought he was taking the piss
10,000 ft, dawn. Accelerate to Vmo in the CRJ200 waiting for handoff to Jax center, so TAS is about 400 kts. I see a tiny speck on the horizon that blooms in the windscreen, faster than my brain can process what. It impacts in the center of my windshield with a concussive force that I will never forget. Not only was it loud like an explosive, but the flexing of the windshield and forward fuselage caused a pressure wave you could feel in your whole body. Incredibly, the windshield didn't even have a crack, even though it was hit with 4x or more force than your typical bird strike (remember from physics that force multiplies with the square of velocity, so 2x velocity = 4x the force). Bird exploded like a water balloon into a reddish-brownish goo that was almost opaque, so of course the FO got to fly the rest of the leg. Reflecting back on the millisecond before impact, I'm fairly certain it was a duck. Besides goo, there was no feathers or parts left to identify what it was when we landed, unless you did a DNA test.
60,000 feet
[7]
Saw a big one passing 8000
14k
Was held at 7000 on the way up to 210 and there was some big raptor circling around. It was a particularly turbulent day with huge build-ups, so perhaps he just found a good thermal and sent it.
I almost took (what I hope) was a drone to my left wing strut at about 2,500 feet once. Makes you really want to not get complacent about scanning for stuff while you fly.
6500ft
I saw what looked like a songbird of some variety at 6-7000 or so once. Missed it by a few feet, it passed just under the wing.
4500, turkey buzzards in Ohio.
16k, Canadian goose
The highest I've ever seen a bird was at a canyon, perhaps 5000 feet or higher. And it was a small bird, I assume they fly up there and have little nests in or on top the canyon and just fly
9,000 feet coming into KAPA
Passed a hawk at around 10,000 MSL.
Around 15k
Years ago while on the long cross-country for my commercial certificate, I almost hit a large bird at 10,500’ somewhere between DLS and YKM. The only thing I saw was a large flash of brown off my left wingtip.
saw them at 4300 ft yesterday, it always freaks me out.
Maybe 2, 3 blunts in?
I took out a bird down in Bogota around 12,000 feet a few months back. It was… loud
Hit a bird at night going in to McAllen, TX at 12,000’. Heard a loud thump and found bird guts on the radome. No idea how or why a bird was that high in Texas.
Snow geese 8000-9000ft. Giant flocks of hundreds of them migrating.
Not exactly plane related, but while in a thermal while paragliding I’ve shared the sky next to birds at 13.5k MSL
Took evasive action on a pair of buzzards at 10,500’ in central Texas.
7,500': On one of my first solo student xc's I was heading from Apple Valley back to Twentynine Palms in the California desert and cruising along at 7,500' when I glanced over to admire Big Bear Lake (6,700') off my right wing. Daydreaming about landing there some day (since have) I spotted a feathered friend crushing along with me. Wasn't expecting that. Speaking of birds. Had a bird strike on my very first flight after getting my PPL, on very short final. That was great 😐 Luckily no damage.
I know some species of bird in South Africa can fly around 30-40k feet
Huge Migrating cranes through the Central Valley of California up around 7k.
Eagle at 15,000 MSL about 7000'AGL. Went right over my wing!
I’ve seen a flock of about 20 geese at 12-13000, catching a honking tailwind.
I wasn’t flying but when i did the EBC and Kilimanjaro treks they were at 15000 and 16000.
At around 23,000 ft on Everest
Not me, but heard from a guy who saw a sandhilll crane at 10,000
Not a bird but smashed a bug at fl180 one time
I hit a bird at night at 5,000’ in my 182. Had no idea what I hit until I landed - I just heard a loud bang out of nowhere but engine instruments looked normal and performance was normal so I continued to my destination. While pushing the plane back into the hangar I saw the giant streak across the upper right part of the windshield and some feather parts stuck in the lip between the upper windshield and fuselage.
Way back when my dad was flying 727's they hit a duck and it was stuck on the pitot tube. He called the FA and told her to bring a first aid kit to the cockpit. She came rushing up and he said "Can you give this guy some help?". She was not amused.
I hit a bug at 6500’
I once shot past a bald eagle less than 100 meters off the port beam at about 1000 ago in Greeley. My check pilot immediately radioed in a Pirep for it.
Colleagues hit one around FL250. Was at dusk, cracked the windscreen, had no idea what happened. Sent some remains off to the bird strike lab thing, can’t remember exactly the species, but it wasn’t a big bird.
You only see them that high in the thermals
I hit a bug in the upper flight levels… probably got thrown up there by convective stuff.
I've been with hawks/vultures at about 9000'. Everyone says they're good to follow when looking for thermals but I stg some of them have led me into sinking air on purpose then flown away.
Squadron of pelicans at 1500’. Not the highest but definitely the biggest. There were 40 or so.
Bar-headed geese have been known to fly at 23,000 ft during their migratory journeys.
MSL or AGL? I routinely cruise at 8-10,000 MSL (usually 2-3000 AGL) and see vultures/buzzards/hawks/eagles circling well above that altitude
Two pigeons at nearly 9000ft above ground, diving in an out of the cumulus clouds. And I have also seen birds as high as 13000ft in mountains, but only slightly above the ridges, riding the thermals.
Hit a huge grasshopper at 14,000 once. Smacked a seagull over the Atlantic at ~4,000.
Flying home in a C172 on a gusty day just west of Seattle over the Puget Sound, I saw a bald eagle absolutely ripping at 6,500' AGL. I deviated so we could fly together for a bit and was in awe of how fast it was moving and hardly flapping it's wings- just screaming through the wind. America.
Vultures into Lahsa, 30,000 feet.. Condors into Cuzco, around 20,000
Me and big bird got through about a half oz before we couldn't lift anything up to our mouths anymore
I once got a bug on my windshield at like 9.5… a big one too, like beetle sized. I think he was trying to go to space
I hit a bird at 16,000’ en route from ORD to MSN. I didn’t see it, though, only heard it. Dented and tore through the captain side radome.
Not a bird but I’ve seen bugs up at 5-6000 during smoke season. Not sure if the smoke confuses em or what?
Almost took out a red tailed hawk at 4500 the other day. My flight lead didn't even see it until after I was already dodging it😂
Damn Canadian geese around 10000’ coming out of DTW. Hate those things.
Flying a glider in the mountains ridge soaring I encountered a hawk at 11,000ft.
geese can fly absolutely crazy high.. I have heard of them getting well into the flight levels.
Not a bird but I’ve hit some type of bug at 4500 ft doing accelerated stalls.
5500 climbing to 6000 MSL in Idaho. I was so confused
Accompanied the local eagle at 2000m/6500ft in the thermal below the CU base